UKRay

Tom, Let's be serious here. You come from Sweden. I have been to Sweden several times - the same Sweden where the houses have electrical points outside so people can plug their cars into the mains power to keep the heaters going all night. Sweden, the home of the SAAB - the car with heated seats. Comfy weather to you guys is simply anything above freezing... LOL I concede your point about the whisky. A drop of Laphroaig is the nectar of the Gods - www.laphroaig.com R.

Ed, I'm starting to think you could be a very bad influence on me...

Pish! You are simply green with 'reverse' envy. Look at this specification and weep, Badger : Max sewing speed: 800rpm Stitch length: 0-11mm Needle bar stroke: 56mm Take up stroke: 96mm Presser foot lift by hand: 13mm Presser foot lift by foot: 20mm Now as we all know, I loved old Biggles but the 'all singing, all dancing' MacBiggles has gotten him beat - and no, Ed, it doesn't come in stainless steel, he is just teasing you. Get back to work, man, we need four more briefcases by tomorrow morning!

You get back in your box, Badger. This is my obsession and I'm paying for it!

Can you post a picture of the sort of thing you mean, Flyboy?

Thanks for your understanding, Dave. I know you didn't need the apology but I was out of line and felt obliged to give it. The thing is, if I do something wrong or upset someone then, probably thanks to my old fashioned upbringing, I generally feel obliged to apologise and put it right. It doesn't generally cost me anything to admit I was wrong and if I learn from my mistakes then that seems like a pretty fair return. Like most folk, I get plenty angry when people do or say bad stuff and then don't have the cohones to apologise so I try to make sure I fess up and grovel fast. It works well for me in business too - A quick apology and a good grovel can get you out of all kinds of nonsense with grumpy customers!

I nearly said a loch is wet and a moor is dry, but they were both a bit damp when I was there! As I understand it (and speaking as a Sassenach - see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassenach) a loch is a body of water which is either: a lake or; a sea inlet, which may be also a firth, fjord, estuary or bay. Moorland is generally regarded as highland (and high rainfall) habitat. Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorland hope this helps, R.

This is the machine I have just purchased http://www.highlead.co.uk/highlead-GA2688.html. and I'm currently in the process of getting it ready for some serious work. I'm having a servo motor fitted this week, but apparently there are a number of accessories available - can anyone tell me what they are and if they are worth obtaining? Hope you can help!

Skidmore's Restoration Cream would be the ideal stuff for this, Terry.

Just a quick caveat for anyone who decides to go this route. Make sure you have permission to use all the images on your site and give respect to any makers whose work you showcase. It has been pointed out that I used (albeit inadvertantly) a picture of a very fine motorcycle toolbag created by a highly respected member of this forum without a hint of a credit or even a link back to his website. I want to take this opportunity to apologise publicly to RDB: Sorry Dave, I won't do it again, honest!

Welcome to the forum, Jens. We have plenty of medievalists on here and even more who make saddles - I'm very keen to see a thread about building medieval saddles and horse gear. That ought to be highly entertaining. Don't forget to post plenty of pictures of your work - If I have to do it then so must everyone else! Have fun and don't worry about your use of English - we have people from all over the world on here so you will fit in just fine, Best wishes, Ray

I haven't found many folk who would turn down more business so I have a 'no cost' online marketing suggestion that doesn't take much time to do and may make quite a bit of difference to your visitor numbers / sales figures. Initially we need to establish a little bit of common ground so if you already understand this stuff then forgive me for stating the obvious. The reason many people get upset with the internet is because they see other folks getting business from it whilst their own website just sits there costing money in hosting fees and maintainance charges and brings in very little work. BTW, I am including eBay shops and Etsy shops in this post as they can be horribly expensive to run if you aren't selling. Point 1: Visitors equal money - where leatherwork is concerned, IMHO the internet is a numbers game. As I see it, the more visitors you get the more money you make. Point 2: If you simply build a website and then leave it alone it will not produce many sales. It is not a 'Field of Dreams' and just because you built it does not mean 'they will come'. Point 3: The very best results come from attracting the 'right sort of visitor' to your web site. In order to attract the right sort of visitor you may choose to carry out the following tasks: Establish what sort of customer buys your products and what they are using them for. Work out what information they need to do the stuff they like doing - riding horses, buying clothes, restoring antique leathergoods, waterproofing bike leather - whatever they need to do will require some information to do it well. Create 'signpost web sites' that contain vital information which is useful to your prospective client base as these signpost sites will be picked up by the search engines and used to steer interested people to your main website or online sales area. Let me show you some examples of this: I make dog collars for lurchers, greyhounds and whippets and I sell quite a lot of them through my eBay shop because I have created a free website called www.greyhoundcollar.blogspot.com that leads people to my selling area. I import and sell a particular type of Skidmore's leather cream designed to waterproof biker's jackets so I have created a free website called www.bikeleather.blogspot.com that helps bikers to find my eBay shop. I do a lot of leather repairs and restoration work for 1940s re-enactors and WWII living history enthusiasts so I have created a free website called www.1940sleather.blogspot.com to point them to my services. Each signpost site must have genuine value to the specialist reader and encourage them to explore further until they find your sales site. If they don't find real value, visitors will simply click away... I'm not saying that this is the only way to drive traffic to a website - just that it works for me. Why not check out www.blogger.com and see how easy it is to do the same for your sales area. Hope this is useful - it works for me. Ray

Kate, This is a very useful thread... I mainly use a red traditional jeweller's rouge because I tend to have it lying about the workshop for polishing newly made silver work. It seems to work pretty well on my leatherwork knives. I do have some white stuff that seems a lot more aggressive so I'm very careful how I use it. Perhaps someone could post a 'chart' of the various colours and their applications? Does anyone use aluminium oxide powder as a sharpening/polishing aid - what does it do and why should anyone use it? Ray

How do you get on when you need to use the letter I? I find the spacing is completely out if you simply put one letter next to another - a few tips would be appreciated.

Just got back from picking up my lovely new Highlead sewing machine from Troy in the Highlands of Scotland. Many thanks for your kindness and hospitality guys! I took the long route home past lochs, moors, mountains, rivers and all manner of natural beauty. The roads are long and mainly empty at this time of the year. It was a glorious road trip and I'm very pleased I did it. I have attached a few pictures but the one thing they can't tell you is how bl***dy cold it was... I was wearing twice as much clothing in Scotland as I was when I left the Midlands and I was still absolutely freezing. I can't quite believe a Scotsman wouldn't wear anything under a kilt - unless there was nothing left to keep warm 'cos it was frozen off!

Great idea, Roo. I have been playing with the idea of using tripods for all kinds of things but this is a very cool application. Ray

Well done Terry, you found my trusty steed... Good man!

I'm sure Steve will tell you more, Troy - I haven't got mine yet; But give me a week or two...

I do enjoy seeing your traditional English leatherwork, Steve, and this is yet another beautifully finished project. That Seiko edge binding machine does a lovely job - I can't wait to take delivery of mine. All I'll need then is the skill to use it properly... it could be a while! Ray

Suze, I want to know precisely what medication you are taking... 'cos I want some! Ray

Thanks for all the kind words people, it is very encouraging. Apologies for taking so long to respond but I have been away to the Highlands of Scotland to pick up my new sewing machine. The dye process is pretty simple, I just get a bit of old t-shirt and wad it up nice and hard then hold it over the mouth of the dye bottle and let it soak with dye and apply to the leather. As the cloth starts to dry out I rub a bit harder to get the antique effect - easier to do it than tell about it... The trick is not to use the cloth too wet with dye. The centre panels are hand painted and the whole lot is finished with three coats of Leather Balm and Atom Wax. The pattern is pretty easy to work out providing you get the legs together first. The tribolts are made especially for me and although I promised to send some over to Art who was going to re-sell in the US, I'm still waiting for a new batch to come in. I do still have two or three odd bolts and a few sets of oak legs and bolt for sale (complete with pattern for the seat). Please send me a PM if you are interested.

These are a few of the stools I have made recently. I get the legs hand-turned from 200 year old reclaimed oak. The leather is 3.5mm thick veg tan. The legs are 24" long. I'm thinking about stitching the next batch rather than lacing.

I think the tissue paper should be quite safe, Suze. I polish that old leather balm and atom wax good and hard... good point though. I like the idea of the little cloth pouches. It would be easy enough to make up a bunch of them with instructions, 1 oz of Skidmore's cream and a duster and just drop one in each bag as it sells. I think I'm going to get some little printed stickers to use on the tissue paper... a bit more branding never hurts. The finish thing isn't easy to resolve when you know a job could be done better but I sympathise with the "quick nickel" approach too when making up what I think of as 'production line' stuff. Maybe there is room for both schools of thought - High dollar work and production both happen in my workroom and I bet most people are in the same situation. You are quite right, Dave, finish and 'window dressing' are two entirely different issues but somehow they seem linked as without the quality in both quarters the end product you hand over to the customer seems somehow less of a thing. I will post a few pics sometime soonish - but don't hold your breath! It will take a time for this conversation to sink in. I'd really appreciate some sensible advice on those rivets, guys. I don't like the tubular things but I can't find a suitable alternative. I don't mind buying in bulk from the US if the end product is improved - anyone know what those fancy foot operated Weaver riveters work like? Do they use tubular rivets?

Do y'know, Luke - I have a feeling it bent both ways - now what the heck does that make it?

Steady, Josh! I had one bend a few weeks back but I gave it to Badger 'cos he doesn't know any different, ROFL... Not strictly true as it actually arrived bent, new from TLF... I did give it to Badger though!